GOVERNMENT – NOT AFRAID OF UNPOPULAR SOLUTIONS

Within the time-limits of and in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the Constitution and the laws, the newly-formed Government yesterday submitted its new, 2008-2012 program to the National Assembly

After introducing the Government’s program, Prime Minister TIGRAN SARGSYAN also answered the questions of the journalists.
He put a special emphasis on one of the clauses of the program which says, “We should have a responsible government. It is necessary to change the standards of behavior of the well-to-do class. It is indecorous of a Christian Armenian to demonstrate wealth and luxury in country facing the problem of poverty.
According to the Prime Minister, “It is necessary to change the standards of behavior of the wealthy in our country. If we want our country to live in solidarity, the wealthy should be disallowed to demonstrate their property; they should be required to assume a conduct appropriate to a Christian. We should start with ourselves, and this precept concerns all of us. It is necessary to have a public consent around these values as our society has no alternative.”
At the request of the correspondent of “Hayots Ashkharh”, T. Sargsyan touched upon the promises of the government to pay more attention to the publications concerning the officials.
“Our opponents often misrepresent my speech; they try to distort the contents and the sense. The pivotal thesis which I have proposed and want to draw our opponents’ attention to is that if we want to have responsible media we should first of all have a responsible government. We will hold accountable all the guilty parties. This thesis also refers to all the officials.
We will also protect all the honest officials from lie, spiteful insults and gossips. Otherwise, no decent and honest person will wish to work in the state government system. We are introducing a new concept, and you should help us. We will be open and public.”
The Prime Minister expressed belief that healing the public atmosphere requires everybody to change, “I can’t demand you to change, without changing myself. In order to live in a different society and have different customs, we all should change ourselves and never make a distinction between old and new Armenians. We all have certain things to learn.”
According to T. Sargsyan, we often see people rebelling against the enforcement of the law. There immediately appear demonstrators who complain that their rights are being violated. But as a matter of fact, the authorities want to enforce the law to a full effect. It is extremely important to find out, for instance, who push the people to gather in front of the Government building and protest against the reforms undertaken in the sphere of the customs services. They actually pursue a goal to recover the old regime when it was possible import a smuggled product from China. T. Sargsyan accounted for the accusation of deviating from democratic values by mere ignorance, “I would like to inform you that human rights and freedom of speech are not absolutely European standards; they are Armenian standards. If you were familiar with the works and the profound summaries of Maghakia Ormanyan, one of the outstanding figures of the Armenian Apostolic Church, you would make sure that these norms have always been the characteristic features of the Armenia people. And there’s no need to duplicate something that already exists in our reality. It is just necessary to reveal it.”
GEVORG HAROUTYUNYAN

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